1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display controller for a display shelf, and particularly, to an image display controller which is capable of easily generating and editing image data of a display image, wherein the display image includes article information, such as a POP (Point of Purchasing) advertisement, and the display image is projected by a projector to a transmission-type screen, which is arranged with a placing table of the display shelf, from behind the transmission-type screen.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A display shelf is used widely in retail shops, such as supermarkets, convenience stores, and department stores.
In such retail shops, an article is displayed on the display shelf, and an inventory tag corresponding to the article is set in the display shelf. The purpose of the inventory tag is to give information about a price of the article, and so on, to customers.
In recent years, an electronic inventory tag has been developed (see Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-099888). The electronic inventory tag uses, for example, a liquid crystal panel, or an organic EL panel (see Paragraph [0008] of Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-099888, for example).
Principal applications of a display shelf in retail shops are to display an article, and to provide information about the article (“article information”) displayed on the display shelf, such as a price, and so on, to customers by using an inventory tag or an electronic inventory tag. Moreover, POP advertisements have been widely adopted as a method for drawing customers' attention to the article displayed on the display shelf, and for inducing the customers to buy more articles.
Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-245756 discloses a showcase which includes a projector and a screen for displaying an image from the projector on a ceiling of the showcase. By adopting this technique, it is unnecessary to put an inventory tag including a POP advertisement printed on a recording medium, such as paper, on the display shelf. It is also possible to enhance a display effect of the article placed on the display shelf by projecting a projector image on the screen (see Paragraph [0018] of Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-245756).
Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-099888 discloses a landscape-oriented electronic inventory tag which is formed by connecting a plurality of thin-model display devices laterally so as obtain a larger area for displaying the article information (see FIG. 8 of the Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-099888). However, in this case, joints are formed between the thin-model display devices. Therefore, it is difficult to display a natural and beautiful image near the joint area of the screen.
Also, because it is difficult to provide an electronic inventory tag having a wide area for displaying the article information, the article information displayed by a conventional electronic inventory tag is limited to a small amount of information, such as a price corresponding to an article, and so on. Therefore, it is difficult for the electronic inventory tag to have a function of displaying a POP advertisement.
A conventional display shelf usually includes a plurality of placing tables for placing articles. As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-245756, when the projector and the screen for displaying the projector image from the projector are located on a ceiling of the display shelf, there are distances between each placing table and the screen. Thus, when inventory tags corresponding to the articles placed on each placing table are displayed on the screen located on the ceiling, it is difficult to understand correspondence relationships between the articles and the inventory tags.